When Jesus Changes Everything

0:00Canter's still talking this guy. Welcome to Rogue Valley Fellowship. We are here together as family to worship God. And I don't know what your mental state is like. Maybe for some of you you walked in this morning ready to worship. You feel like that's a space you can easily enter into or maybe you came in here and life feels frantic and out of control and it was all you could do to just make it into the building. And sometimes life's that way, isn't it? And so the call to worship is an opportunity for all of us to pause, to try to quiet our hearts and our minds, to turn our hearts to the goodness of God. And to help us do that this morning, I'm going to read Psalm 16. And as I read, listen and be reminded of God's goodness and faithfulness before we enter into worship.

1:03Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord, I have no good apart from you. As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply. Their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me because he is my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to shale or let your holy ones see corruption. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy.

2:05At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. So if you're able, would you stand this morning and be reminded that God is faithful and that he is good. And in his presence there is fullness of joy. For you will not abandon my soul to shale or let your holy ones see corruption. Whether you were the praise we could ever have. Whether you remember every good ever we would ever have.

3:08Jesus the name above that we had ever knew. Jesus the only one who could ever see. Would be of every breath we could ever feel. Only in me. We sing together wholeheartedly. There is no one like you. There is no one beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and kill me. With your heart and with me. And your love that goes around. So Jesus the name above every other.

4:11Jesus the only one who could ever see. Would be of every breath we could ever feel. Only in me. We sing together wholeheartedly. There is no one like you. There is no one beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and kill me. And your love that goes around. Holy, there is no one like you. There is no one beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder.

5:14Show me who you are and kill me. With your heart and with me. And your love that goes around. I will build my life up on your. It is a herndbound issue. And I will put my trust in you. And I will not be shaken. I will build my life up on your. It is a herndbound issue.

6:17And I will put my trust in you. And I will not be shaken. Holy, there is no one like you. There is no one beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and kill me. With your heart and with me. And your love that goes around. Holy, there is no one like you. There is no one beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and kill me. With your heart and with me. And your love that goes around.

7:39Christ is my firm foundation. The rock on which I stand. And everything around me is shaken. I've never been shaken. I've never been more blind. But I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. He's people through generation. So why would he feel now? He wore.

8:40I've still got joy in chaos. I've got peace that makes no sense. So I won't be going under. I'm not held by my own strength. Because I built my life on Jesus. He's never let me down. He's people in every season. So why would he feel now? He wore. He wore. He won't fail. He won't fail. He wore.

9:42He wore. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. We came in blue, but my house was built on. I'm safe with you. I'm going to make it through. When came when blue and my house was built on you. And I'm safe with you. I'm going to make it through.

10:44I'm standing strong on you. I'm going to make it through. It's my house's built on you. Christ is my firm foundation. The rock on which I stand. Everything around me shaking. I've never been more blind. I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. He's people through generations. So why would he feel now? He won't. He won't fail.

11:51He won't fail. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. He won't. He won't. He won't.

12:52I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like. But I've heard the tender whisper of love. The dead of night and you tell me that you're pleased and that I never alone. You're a good, good fire to you. To you are, to you are. And I'm loved by you. To I am, to I am. I've seen many searching for answers. Far and wide but I know. We're all searching for answers.

13:56Only you provide because you know. But we need before we say you're what you're a good, good father to you are. To I am. And I'm loved by you. To I am. To I am. To I am. You're a good, good father to you are. To you are. And I'm loved by you. To I am. To I am. To I am. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways.

14:56To I am. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your way. You are perfect in all of your ways to life. You are perfect in all of your ways to life. You are perfect in all of your ways to life.

16:17To my am, to my am, to my am. You're good, good father. To your why, to your why. To my am, to my am, to my am. you are perfect in all of your age you are perfect in all of your age you are perfect in all of your age you are perfect in all of your age you are perfect in all of your age I think the truth Арm ennemy wings to us

17:42I'm learning and broken, oh, the world by the weight of the skin, Jesus calls How do you come to the end of your soul? Do you there's four dreams from where Jesus calls? Oh come to the altar, the flowers, arms are broken, forgiveless, was part of it, the

18:47precious blood of Jesus Christ. Do you there's no reason to reign, Jesus is calling? Bring your sorrows and trade them for truth, from the ashes of new life, his born, Jesus is calling, oh come to the altar, your fathers on time, open wide, forgiveless, was part of it, the precious blood of Jesus Christ, forgiveless, was part of it, the

19:49precious blood of Jesus Christ. Do you there's four dreams from where Jesus calls? Oh come to the altar, the flowers, arms are open wide, forgiveless, was part of it, the precious blood of Jesus Christ, forgiveless, was part of it, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Do you there's four dreams from where Jesus calls?

20:58Oh come to the altar, the flowers, arms are broken, forgiveless, was part of it, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. You can have a seat. I'm Sarah and I'm on our missions council here at Reg Valley Fellowship and I want to invite up Witt and Cheryl Whitney. We're going to come once a month, we take a Sunday and talk about one of our local ministry partners or one of our four ministry partners and so today we're really glad that Cheryl and Witt could join us and they're going to share about Mercy's gate.

22:00So I'm going to just hand it over to them and let them go. Thanks Sarah. I just want to say I'm a little overwhelmed, the spirit of Christ is so present in this church. When we drove up this morning, you know you don't know where you're going to go or what it's going to look like or how it's going to feel and this whole time this morning in worship I was just like ready to ball. Just the spirit of God is very sweet in your fellowship and I just bless that very much. Thank you so much. We were welcomed by so many people that's kind of the litmus test of a body right. You get to a church and people just walk by you who the heck are they you know or people walk up and say hi and so you felt it too right. My name is Cheryl she already said that and I am a volunteer at Mercy's Gate. How many of you have ever heard of Mercy's Gate? Oh a lot of you cool cool cool cool. So who are we? Who are we? We are a nonprofit organization here in Medford and we work within the community trying to help out our neighbors that are in a rough spot.

23:06And this morning when I woke up I was just asking the Lord for like father we could talk at infinite about poverty and about need right we could just keep talking about it and poverty is always kind of a touchy topic because we don't sometimes know how to deal with it. And I was reminded of a story of our eldest daughter Blair this was when we lived in Long Beach and we had a West Fall you know those vans with the pop top the campers and we would drive in Long Beach and at every corner just like here in Medford you'd see someone with a sign hungry. And she was seven in this story and she said mom we need to feed that person and I said how would we do that Blair and she said well I could ride my bike to the dollar store to the bread store at the end of the street here and I could make a bunch of peanut butter and honey sandwiches and then every time we pull up to the light we could just pass out a sandwich and I thought great application I liked it I like what she was doing.

24:07And so we did that she did that she went and bought the bread with her allowance money and we slathered a bunch of bread with honey and peanut butter and this was going great for a while you know we would pull up to lights and she'd slide the window open and she high here some food you know and it was like such a blessing for me as a mom to see this kid deciding to put some muscle to the issue until one morning we were out and about she pulled up and this guy had this huge I'm hungry sign and she's open to the slide and she's like I'm hungry. I'm not talking about the same thing with her usual exuberance and said hi I have a sandwich for you and he took the sandwich and he goes I don't know that stinkin's out and I remember the expression on her face she just sort of it was like her whole world view just got hacked right then at that there you know at that moment and she got back on her seat she goes why was that man so mean you know and all of us when we approach or see people in need we know nothing about them.

25:07We don't know anything about them we don't know their story and that's the thing that I love about Mercy's gate. Mercy's gate works sort of under this little rubric people bump into a rough spot in the road the camp they're rent they need a car repaired there are a victim of domestic violence whatever it is and they can pick up the phone and they can call us and they can get an appointment and then they meet with a volunteer and we listen to their story and it's our job in an hour and 15 minutes to listen with the ears of Christ and not sit in a place of judgment and try to sort of sort through the reads and the rushes and figure out how did you get in that position how did you get to this place and then it's our job to be discerning and figure out what's the best path for what we're doing. So I'm going to go forward and something that sets Mercy's gate apart from all the other community helps access St. Vincent de Paul Salvation Army.

26:16I'm just drawing a blank a ton of them is we are not supported by the United States government nor the state. And so we have some community members and churches about 40% of our money come from folks like you churches in the area 60% is from donors people that just want to see this work. And we never never hand somebody a check I can't pay my rent here you go here's a check we don't ever do that we work through an issue of what's the best path for this person. We mostly say here's a portion of what we're going to send to your landlord you're going to have to come up with the rest of it because repeating the cycle isn't going to fix the problem. And so that's sort of the nuts and bolts of what we do and there are many ways in which people can volunteer and maybe you're in that place right now in life where you think I'd like to give a couple hours a week or I'd like to show up and see what this is about. And I'm going to pass the mic to my better half William and he's going to tell you how he helps him versus game.

27:18Thank you. Thanks, Cheryl. You know you might be wondering what if any part do I could I have in all of this. You know some people are great cheerleaders from the sidelines right other people just got to jump off the bench and get in the game. And I'd be one of those or another one of those. Cheryl is on the front lines she meets with clients directly she works with them talks with them here's their story as she mentioned. I'm the back of the house I did website design and I do some video production because I was an ad guy on Madison Avenue for my whole career. However talent gift you might have I can guarantee you it will be well appreciated at Mercy's Gate. As we sang in the first worship song today lead me in your love to those around me.

28:22Well you know this is a chance to do that. So thank you all. Thanks for what things. One of the ways that he just specifically helped I had a domestic violence client and she had to go to family court to defend herself against the fellow that she was with. And she needed everything on a thumb drive she needed her whole story kind of loaded up and he sort of sorted through all of her stuff and got it together. And I couldn't do that I'm not tech savvy he's tech savvy that's just one way in which he helps. But we also have people that volunteer hours as builders you know we get we have women widows that you know lose windows and houses and so on. There's so many ways in which you can come in and have a look at us and see if you want to help and I'm going to close it out there. What we do is we give a hand up not a hand out that's who we are and we empower people to get off that spot that they're stuck on. We're going to be over by the donuts.

29:24I didn't have any before. We're going to be by the donuts and I'll have some business cards and if you're even curious the way people find out if they like this idea is they can show up and like shadow me. You can just come and check us out and you can say I don't like this I like this however it works for you. But if God's putting that on your heart today please stop by and say something to me. Alright thanks. Thank you. Thank you for being with us today. Let's stand for our scripture reading. Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 19. But Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogue at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way men or women he might approach bring them bound to Jerusalem.

30:31Now as he went on his way he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shown around him and falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him. Saul Saul why are you persecuting me and he said who are you Lord and he said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. So I will rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were opened he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus and for three days he was without sight and he neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named in an Ius the Lord said to him in a vision and an Ius and he said here I am Lord and the Lord said to him rise and go to the street called straight and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul for behold he is praying and he has seen a vision in a vision a man named an Ius come in and lay hands on him so that he might regain his sight.

31:50The Ananias answered Lord I have heard from many about this man how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So in an Ius departed and entered the house and laying his hands on him he said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight then he rose and was baptized and taking food he was strengthened.

32:50This is the word of the Lord. The thousands generations are falling down in worship to sing the song of ages to the land. All have gone before us. All will believe. Sing the song of ages to the land. Sing your name is the highest.

34:07Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest.

35:07Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest.

36:07Sing your name is the highest. Sing your name is the highest. All songs and delinues are found in the decisions your name. Stairs above the Lord and the Christ is the right. Holy, O the Acid the Right. Holy, you lift me high. Holy, Holy forever. And your people sing. Holy, to the King of kings.

37:09Holy, you will not wait. Holy, Holy forever. Holy, Holy, Holy forever. You will always be holy, holy forever. Amen. You guys maybe seated kiddos. You guys are dismissed with Mr. Cho. Now we're in any Broncos stuff today. Wasn't your best show in last week.

38:11We got the Niners fans represented though. It should be a good day. Although my wife's a dolphins fan so it's a little rivalry this morning. Oh you're not a dolphins fan anymore? Anyway. When we first got married in fantasy football for 15 years of our life, I always had to draft a dolphin player for fantasy. It was just the worst. But out of love I always drafted some random dolphin kicker or something like that. We digress kids. Let us pray for you. Lord Jesus, we pray a blessing on our kids today that you would be present with them. We pray for the kids scattered throughout the rest of this building as well. You give all of them wisdom and grace and patience and love for their kids. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you guys have your Bibles turn to Acts 9. As you're turning to Acts 9, we want to let you know about an opportunity for service.

39:13Tomorrow some of the staff is meeting at the annex at 9.30 in the morning. We have an opportunity to help a single elderly lady move houses. And so if you're free tomorrow morning around 9.30 and want to meet us at the annex, we could use a few more hands and healthy backs to lift. Because I think collectively we might have one healthy back among the four of us. So if you could help, we'd appreciate it. So meet at the annex at 9.30 in opportunity to love someone in our community. Amen. Acts 9 continuing our study through the book of Acts this morning. This morning we come to a pretty famous passage, that passage being the conversion of the Apostle Saul. We commonly know him as the Apostle Paul. But Saul's conversion is one of the most significant events recorded in the New Testament. Luke as an author will actually tell this story three different times in the book of Acts. And Paul will repeatedly refer to this moment in his life in his own writings.

40:18He'll refer to this in Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and First Timothy as well. His conversion, his encounter with Jesus, was an encounter that he and the early church would never forget. What's interesting is I studied this week and I read different scholars and different commentaries. The scholars debate whether this story is included, Saul's experience on the Damascus road, should be understood as a conversion story or as a calling story. Because after all, in one sense was Saul converted. He was not an agnostic prior to this moment who suddenly began believing in God. Nor did he simply abandon one religion for another. Rather Christianity is the fulfillment of the Old Testament religion of Judaism. He continues to actually worship the God of Israel and would continue to read the same scriptures. This is why scholars go, is this really a conversion story? Yet, yet, his encounter with the risen Jesus radically transformed how he understood all of these things.

41:26It changed everything that had come before him in his life and everything that would follow. Everything that was before and everything that would come in the future would now be interpreted through the lens of Jesus as Israel's crucified and risen Messiah. And so in many ways, Saul's conversion is certainly unique. This encounter would alter the course of the church and in many respects the trajectory of history. If you think about somebody's writings who have changed world history, it's hard to argue that the Apostle Paul isn't one of the most influential writers in the history of humankind. 2,000 years later, we're sitting this morning, tens of thousands of miles away, reading about his testimony, his conversion. And we spend countless hours and years of our life reading the letters that he wrote. Saul would go on as we said to become known as Paul. By the way, this isn't a name change.

42:26Sometimes we think that his name got changed and it's part of his conversion. Saul is simply his Hebrew name and Paul is his Roman name. And there's a transition in the gospels or excuse me in the book of Acts where he begins to be referred to as Paul more often. But Saul would become known as Paul and he would carry the gospel throughout the Roman world. And he would write letters, as I said, that have shaped countless lives for nearly 2,000 years. So it's unique in that way. His conversion is certainly unique. The impact of his conversion is unique. Yet the essential realities of his conversion are also true for every follower of Jesus. And those are the things that I want to point out this morning and this morning's sermon. Because Saul discovered that Jesus was alive, Saul discovered that God was more gracious than he could ever imagine, and Saul discovered that his life would never be the same through this encounter with Jesus. His story, his conversion shows us that an encounter with Jesus changes what we believe about Jesus.

43:32That it transforms us by his grace and it redirects the trajectory of our life. And so those are the three things that I want to point out this morning from Paul's conversion or Saul's conversion. Number one, number one, that we all share in common or if you're on a journey with Jesus and you're thinking about conversion or the biblical language being more like born again, you're born again experience. Number one is this, that encountering Jesus, encountering Jesus changes what we believe about Jesus. Everybody has thoughts and opinions about Jesus. I don't think there's anybody even in our culture that doesn't know who he is in one sense. Now they all have thoughts and opinions and that's the question, what do we believe about the person of Jesus? So who was Saul before his encounter with Christ? As I said, he was not irreligious, he was not spiritually indifferent or even unfamiliar with the scriptures.

44:32Saul, as we know, was a Pharisee. He was a student of the respected Rabbi Gameliel and he was highly educated. He had like the equivalent of like a double doctorate. The guy is brilliant and he was extraordinarily zealous for the God of Israel. In Philippians chapter three, he describes himself as someone who possessed impeccable religious credentials. I want you to think about the confidence that Saul has in himself. When he's filling out the application, what qualifies you for this job? Impeccable religious credentials. He's very, very sure of himself. And this Philippians three says, and he was as to zeal a persecutor of the church, a persecutor of Christians. Saul was completely convinced that he was serving God by opposing the followers of Jesus.

45:33And that's where we pick up the story in Acts chapter nine. Saul is on the road, he's asked permission from those in authority to go round up, basically search and round up Christians to arrest them and to send them to prison at the minimum. Earlier in Acts in Acts chapter eight, it tells us that he ravaged the church. This word ravaged describes the violence of a wild animal attacking its prey. Saul would enter homes, he dragged away men and women, the text wants us to know. And he committed them to prison and among the early Christians he would have been regarded as a terrifying brutal enemy of the church. Christians in our culture have thoughts about who the enemy is to believers in our community or in our culture or in our society. And for first century Christians there was no public enemy number one to the church when they gathered in the home churches was Saul.

46:35And what are we going to do if Saul shows up at our door? How are we going to avoid that? How are we going to hide from that? Saul is very zealous in his persecution of the church and so just a sidebar freebie this morning note that we can be deeply sincere in our beliefs and still be sincerely wrong. Paul's issue is not an issue of zealousness or sincerity. Passion is not proof that we are right. Religious knowledge, spiritual zeal and strong convictions do not guarantee that we actually see Jesus clearly. Saul knew the scriptures. Saul knew the scriptures better than anybody in this room. He believed he was defending God and was willing to sacrifice for these convictions. And yet he was actively opposing the God he believed he was serving.

47:39It's just something to consider because the proof of the faithfulness to God is in the fruit that it's producing. But everything would change that day on the road to Damascus for Saul as he's journeyed to persecute the church he's blinded by a great light and he's met by someone. This light flashed from heaven around Saul and he fell to the ground and he hears a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Personal. Why are you persecuting me? And Saul responded in an interesting way and says, who are you? What? Lord, who are you? Saul knows that this is a divine moment and a divine encounter. Who are you? Lord, but you can also as Paul, Saul, it's so hard, I'm so conditioned to say Paul, Saul in this context, he asks the question and you can just imagine in the back of his mind, I sure hope it's not who I think it is.

48:47I really hope that this isn't him. Saul must have been thoroughly confused because as far as he was concerned, he was not persecuting the Lord. He wasn't persecuting Yahweh. He was defending God. By the way, God doesn't need us to defend him. He believed he was protecting God's honor and preserving faithfulness to God's law. But this question, but this question, why are you persecuting me would challenge his entire belief system and expose the terrible possibility that his understanding of God had been profoundly mistaken. And then as we said, then came the answer, Saul could never have expected, I am who? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

49:54I am Jesus the one whom you are persecuting. In that moment, Saul's world in essence collapses and yet at the same time a whole new world will open up to him. The Jesus that he had rejected was actually alive. And the crucified man whose followers that he had hunted was in fact Israel's Messiah and now the exalted Lord. Saul's zeal, one author says, Saul's zeal for the cause of God had actually become an attack against the God who has raised Jesus from the dead. I want you to imagine what is going on in Paul's soul in this moment. The entire trajectory of his life had been oriented toward his understanding of faithfulness to Yahweh as revealed in the Old Testament and given to him through his teachers.

50:55And he was more zealous than any other. And he had dedicated his life to preserving faithfulness and defending God. And in a moment, he realizes how deeply he has been mistaken, but not only cognitively that I've made a misjudgment, he realizes how personal this actually is. Because Jesus goes, he didn't say, why are you persecuting my brothers and sisters? What does he say? Why are you persecuting me? The union shared between the life of the risen Jesus and his followers is deeply metaphysical. At a level that we struggle to like comprehend. And yet we see it revealed when Paul says, when the scripture says, when you struck that Christian brother or sister, you struck me.

51:55When you imprisoned that brother and sister in the name that was worshiping the name of Jesus, you imprisoned me. And so this isn't just a misunderstanding of theology. This is deeply personal. What happens in you when someone you love has been physically hurt by another? What rises up in you? Violence, vengeance, right? You've ever seen a mama bear, either literally a mama bear or a mama bear, right? When their children are bullied at school, look out! I had this moment with my wife on the golf course a couple of weeks ago, or a basketball, we can pick a few stories. She's outing herself. And she went like full mama bear while I'm in this golf court with her on a golf course. And I'm like, just kids, just let them know. Just keep riding, right? She went mama bear because that just rises up. Because when somebody we love is hurt, our natural response is to respond in kind.

53:04We'll come back to that. Because I just want you to imagine when Paul hears the words, I am Jesus, you've got to be thinking, he's thinking, oh I'm in trouble. Oh I'm in big trouble. But really, the thing that I want to point out here is that Saul in his zeal had failed to understand something about the Messiah. Because Saul had no category for a crucified Messiah. Paul has no category for a crucified Messiah. Because according to Deuteronomy chapter 21, it says anyone hung on the tree or a tree was under a curse. How could Israel's promised king be rejected, crucified, and apparently defeated? Paul has no room for this sort of theology. But standing before the risen Jesus, Saul could no longer deny that God had actually vindicated the very one whom Israel and the Romans had crucified.

54:14And in this way, as in T. Wright says, everything Saul had hoped for, prayed for, and longed for had been fulfilled. But in a way that shattered his former understanding. The hope of Israel had come, but he had come as the crucified and risen Messiah. This brief encounter established what would become the central proclamation of the Apostle Paul's life, namely that God had raised the crucified Jesus from the dead and made him known as Messiah and Lord. Saul now saw Jesus differently. The one he had opposed was the one to now whom he would give his life. You see this reality of the risen Lord and exalted king, the resurrection itself would never become a secondary doctrine for Saul.

55:14It stood at the center of everything that he believed and proclaimed. He would later write in 1 Corinthians 15, he would say, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and our faith is in vain. He goes on to say, we are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. This encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus changed everything that Paul believed about Jesus prior to this moment. He no longer saw him as a defeated, maybe prophet. He saw him as the one who was crucified and who God the Father vindicated by raising him from the dead and had exalted him to the right hand. And he is the living king of the universe and Paul never gets over this.

56:18It changes everything about how he sees who Jesus is. And so for Paul, everything depended upon the resurrection. If Jesus remained dead, then the apostles preaching, including his own, was empty. Christian faith was futile, sins remained undefeated, and the witness of Jesus had misrepresented God. But Paul knew through this encounter that Christ had been raised because he had encountered the risen Jesus himself. And so the resurrection was not merely an idea that Paul had accepted. It was actually a reality that had confronted him on the road to Damascus and had changed everything about how he saw Jesus. The Jesus who saw had regarded, as I said, as a defeated imposter was, in fact, the risen Lord. And that reality became the foundation of Paul's gospel and the message to which he would devote the rest of his life even unto death.

57:22That Jesus Christ was crucified, that Jesus Christ was raised, and that Jesus Christ is Lord. And these truths, this morning, brothers and sisters, these truths are at the heart of every genuine conversion to Christ. We may encounter Jesus in different ways. I don't think I'm going to go out on a limb and say, most of you didn't encounter him on the road to Damascus, literally. But you encountered him somewhere, in some way, through the preaching of the Word, maybe through the testimony of a friend, maybe it was in a church, maybe it was in a coffee shop, maybe it was alone in your room all by yourself. And God met you in that place. But what was happening in that moment of conversion is a reframing and a re-understanding of who you actually see Jesus to be. Saul's encounter is uniquely dramatic and physical. He sees, he encounters the risen Lord.

58:22But conversion always involves coming to see Jesus for who he truly is. It is more than adopting a religious system. It's more than just cleaning up our act and improving our behavior. It's more than adding Jesus to our life because I need that great cheerleader in my corner to champion everything I want to do in life. And when life gets really bad, I'll turn back to him. But until I need him, I'm just going to live my life. That's not conversion. Let's plane a game with God. It is recognizing that Jesus Christ is risen, exalted, and He is the Lord. C.S. Lewis described his own journey by saying this, I have just passed on from believing in God to definitely believing in Christ. That's what Marx and Lewis's mind, his conversion.

59:25We have a lot of generic God talk in our culture. A lot of generic God talk. But Christian faith centers on who? Jesus, it centers on Christ, it's in the name. Right? It's not generic God talk. We do not merely accept certain ideas about Him. Rather, we meet the living Lord and enter into relationship with Him. And that journey is unique. It's different. That's what we share when we talk about our testimonies. But at its core, what's happening in that moment and the moments that surround it is an encounter with Jesus that's changing how we see who He is. And part of the irony of Saul's encounter is that he actually loses physical sight for some time. At the very moment that he actually begins to see life more clearly. He loses his physical sight.

1:00:28He had entered the road to Damascus able to see but was spiritually blind. And he would leave it physically blind but awaken to the truth. Paul would later describe conversion this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He says this, for God who said let light shine out of the darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So what happens when we come to see Jesus, when we come to Christ? It's this miracle, by the way, He's drawing on Genesis language of God speaking light into the darkness. He compares our conversion experience to that same miracle that happens in Genesis 1. And it's the light of the glory of God. And we see Christ as beautiful, whereas before we despised Him or we were uninterested in Him or we were not impressed by Him. But through the miracle and the work of the Spirit, something changes and we see the beauty of Christ.

1:01:34Something to behold and earn our beholding we become like Him. And we desire to follow Him. And so conversion begins when God shines His light into our darkness and enables us to see the glory, He sees His glory in the face of Jesus. So the central question then is not merely whether we are sincere this morning, whether we are religious this morning, whether we are knowledgeable this morning or even passionate this morning. The question is this and this is what I want you to reflect on this week. Do we see Jesus for who He truly is? So ask yourself, do I see Jesus as He truly is? The crucified and risen Lord, or have I settled for a version of Jesus shaped by my own assumptions, preferences and expectations? Brothers and sisters, in this way, in one way, we're always being converted.

1:02:36We're always being confronted with our assumptions and our preferences and our expectations. And Jesus is always just blowing those out of the water and reshaping them. So sit with the Lord this week as you think about your journey with Jesus and your conversion story that either has happened or is in the process of happening. Number two, I think we share with the Apostle Paul in his conversion not only that when we encounter Jesus, we change what we believe about Jesus, but I think those of us that have encountered Jesus would also recognize in our conversion, that is the grace of Jesus that transforms who we are. Because as I said, when the question is answered, when Paul asked the questions, who are you? And the voice responds, I am Jesus. You've got to be thinking in Paul's soul and in his psyche and in his body, he's feeling an oh no moment. I'm cooked, I'm done.

1:03:37Because if God treated Saul the way Saul treated his enemies, Saul would have died on the Damascus road. Saul approached those he considered enemies with threats and violence. But he would learn this morning that Jesus approached his enemies with mercy and grace. And it's this grace that Paul never gets over. He never moves past the grace of Jesus. He never gets over the fact that Jesus should have just taken me out right then. And he didn't. I had persecuted and killed Christians. And Jesus met me on the road and he offers me grace and mercy. And that grace and mercy is what transforms him. Paul knew exactly who he had been and what he deserved.

1:04:37He had opposed Jesus persecuted his people and attempted to destroy the church. Yet Jesus did not give Saul the judgment he expected. Rather, as I said, he confronted him and he began transforming him. Paul would not be changed through his own effort or merit but through the pursuing and transforming grace of Jesus. That grace which is unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor from God. Paul would later write in first Corinthians, I'm drawing from Paul's letters to give us a sense of what's going on in him and how he reflects on this story. In Acts 9, he says in 1 Corinthians 15, he goes on, he says, for I am the least of the apostles. Unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

1:05:38And his grace toward me is not in vain, Paul says. His grace toward me is not in vain. Paul never minimized the seriousness of his past. He remembered who he had been but his past, again, no longer defines who he is particularly in relation to God. The defining reality of Paul's life would now be the grace of God. By the grace of God, I am what I am. And this grace, this unmerited favor by God is what began to transform him, to shape him into the image of Jesus, not from the outside in but from the inside out, which is how grace operates. It's not about cleaning up the exterior with the hopes that one day maybe we'll get to the internal world. But it's a deep work of the spirit of God at the depths of our soul, that over the course of our life through the grace of God, continues to transform and changes from the inside out.

1:06:49And we see this grace embodied in Ananias, who is kind of the second person that gets brought into this story. Because I said the first century Christians knew Saul. They knew he had ravaged the church. He wasn't the guy you wanted to walk into the Bible study. You know, when new people show up at church or people come in, you kind of, hey, new people, this is great. Had Saul walked into the church, everybody's like, pfft out. Not the meat, I got the wrong meeting time. We're not supposed to be here. Saul's here. And so Ananias gets a dream. He gets his vision and says, hey, I'm going to send you Saul. And you're going to reaffirm in him the call that I've placed in his life and you're going to lay hands on him and heal him. And in this way, Ananias becomes the tangible expression of the grace of God to Saul.

1:07:49Saul had come to Damascus to arrest followers. And yet when he enters Ananias' house, rather than Saul placing his hands on Ananias to arrest him, Ananias places his hands on Saul to heal him. See, this is grace at work. Completely unexpected. And he greets him saying, brother Saul, brother Saul. He had arrived as an enemy of the church, but he was received by the grace of Christ as a brother. His sight was restored and the story tells us that he was filled with the spirit and was baptized into the very community that he had come to destroy. Years later, Paul would continue to reflect on this moment and reflect on the grace of God as he writes Timothy. And first Timothy, he says, formally, I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.

1:08:49He has clarity with who he was prior to Jesus. But he goes on to say, I received mercy. The grace of our Lord overflowed for me. Christ Jesus came into the world. He says to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. He never gets over the grace of God. To his astonament, Jesus offered him not only mercy and withholding judgment, but grace that welcomed him and restored him and gives him this new identity. Now again, those of us here this morning when we think about our conversion experience, we may not have actively persecuted the church. That may not be where you come from. But Roman says that while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. He says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Putting this enmity within our relationship between us and God.

1:09:51So in that sense, we all rejected and opposed God. And in that place, Christ died for us. And so like Paul, it is the grace of God that transforms all of us. It is his kindness, as the scripture says, that leads us to repentance. None of us are changed to our own effort, merit, or worthiness. Rather, we are all transformed by the grace of Jesus. And as one author says, personal transformation is a work of genuine conversion. But that transformation is rooted in, sourced in, grounded in, sustained by the grace of God. This is what Paul never gets over. And so a reflection question this morning for us. Where can I see the transforming work of grace in my life? And where am I still resisting the person Jesus is calling me to become?

1:10:51Where is God's grace active in your life? Where do you see him working? And be honest with yourself. Where am I resisting that? Because part of our conversion experiences this ongoing transformation that's rooted in the grace of God. And finally, this morning, number three, the call of Jesus directs the trajectory of our life. The Lord said to Ananias in verse 15, that the Lord saw is my chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel. Saul had a particular calling placed on his life. He had went to Damascus with his own plans, his own authority, and his own destination. And he intended to arrest the followers of Jesus and return them to Jerusalem. But after encountering Jesus, Saul's life moves in an entirely new direction.

1:11:53Saul surrenders. Saul surrenders his direction and receives a new purpose within the mission of God. Again, we sometimes speak of conversion as deciding for Christ or choosing Jesus or making a commitment. But decision and commitment are certainly part of the process. But conversion is more than a decision we make. As one author says, conversion is at root not a decision or a commitment, but a surrender to the supreme authority of Jesus. And this is what happens in Saul's life. He surrenders to Jesus. And in this surrender, Saul would discover the new trajectory of his life. He would now be a key piece in God's mission of redemption and restoration. And through our conversion experience, Jesus certainly does an internal work in us. He certainly does this internal work as we just talked about. We have deep personal experiences of God's forgiveness.

1:12:56We become acutely aware of his life for us. But it is important to remember, again, as one author says, that personal transformation never collapses into sanctified self-absorption. Rather, conversion prepares the believer for performance of concrete tasks in the service of God. When you come to Jesus, not only is everything about Him in your mind and your life changed, not only does His grace get planted in you in a way that begins to transform you from the inside out. But that transforming work turns you outward to the others around us. And we participate with Him in His mission of redemption and restoration in a myriad of ways. But it is important that when we think about conversion and coming to Christ, we don't see conversion as the end of the process, but rather the beginning of the process. Saul's calling would not be easy.

1:13:59Jesus, or excuse me, in verse 16, it says, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. Saul would not only proclaim the name of Jesus, he would actually, as we'll see, suffer for it. One author says, the great antagonist of the gospel would become its outstanding protagonist. The persecutor will become the persecuted and suffer like Jesus himself. He will join the fellowship of those who are afflicted because of their identification with the Lord Jesus. And Paul doesn't shy away from this. He doesn't see this as problematic. In Philippians chapter 3, he says, my prayers that I might know him. How many of you want to know Jesus? Sure, we all raise our hands if we raise our hand at church. I want to know Jesus, but then Paul goes on and I want to know the power of resurrection. How many of you go, yes and amen?

1:14:59Some of you know the verse that I'm going to quote. So you're less hesitant to keep raising your hand. And that I might share in his sufferings. He Jesus juked us real quick. I was all on board for this thing. And that I might share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. If that doesn't shape our theology, if that doesn't shape how we understand discipleship brothers and sisters, we're missing part of the call. For Paul, his calling was not merely to accomplish great things for Jesus, but to become like Jesus, even through suffering. The risen Lord who redirected Paul's life also led him along the way of the cross. Brothers and sisters, the same is true for us. Our encounter with Jesus shapes the trajectory of our lives.

1:16:03As I said, conversion is not the finished line of the Christian life. Rather, it is the starting line of a whole new journey. We are forgiven and reconciled to God, but we are also called to follow Jesus and participate in His redemptive purposes. It's one of the challenges with much of the last 40 years of evangelical approach to Christian work. It's very conversion centric. It's make a decision for Christ. It's raise your hand, get baptized. We count these things. We add them up. And then what? If we see conversion is the end, the rest of the Christian life doesn't make sense. But if we see it as the beginning, it enters into a whole new journey of life with Jesus. Our calling may not take us into vocational ministry like Saul or send us around the world to preach the gospel. But we share this with Paul that our relationship with Jesus becomes the primary reality that directs our life.

1:17:08Our relationship with Jesus becomes the primary reality that directs my understanding of marriage to my wife. And what marriage is and how I show up in that marriage and what it means when it's not going well, it shapes how I see parenting and it shapes how I see church life. It shapes how I see my neighbor, it shapes how I see the enemy and all of these things get filtered through the life and the reality of Jesus. And we used to think one way about marriage. We used to think one way about kids. We used to think one way about money and jobs and politics and all of these things. And then we encounter Jesus and he says, no, we're going to redirect all of these things to me. So you see them through me. It shapes how we use our gifts, pursue our work, treat our neighbors, order our relationships and understand our purpose. And like Paul following Jesus will sometimes involve suffering. Jesus told every disciple not only Paul, but he told all of his disciples to take up our cross and follow him.

1:18:10Our suffering will not look exactly like Paul's, but obedience will cost us something. Following Jesus may require us to surrender comfort, control, approval, ambition, the future we had imagined. Yet this is the path on which we come to know both the fellowship of Christ's suffering and the power of His resurrection. And so a question that I leave you with this morning is if Jesus is truly Lord, how is His call changing the direction of my life? And what might I still need to surrender in order to follow Him? So as the guys and gals come up to close in a song, RVF this morning, as we think about Acts 9. Paul began, Paul began the road to Damascus convinced that he could see clearly. But when he encountered the risen Jesus, everything changed. He saw Jesus as Lord, he experienced a grace greater than anything he deserved, and he received an entirely new direction for his life.

1:19:16The details of our story and our conversion most likely look different, but the same realities mark every encounter with Jesus. That Jesus changes what we believe and how we see Him. His grace transforms who we are in His call redirects where our lives are going. And so the question is not simply whether we have had a conversion experience, but rather whether we are still surrendering to the risen Jesus, allowing Him to continually reshape what we believe, who we are becoming and how we live. Amen? Would you guys stand this morning as we close in a song?

1:20:26Burn to the fiercest drought and storm, what heights of love, what depths of heat, when things stay, when striving seas, my comfort, my old and old, hear the love of Christ I sing. In Christ's love, into a conflict, all is a God in help, His faith, His spirit of love, by His name, as far by the ones He came to say. To long and strong, as Jesus died, the rock of God, what satisfied, every sin, there was a love, even the took of Christ's land.

1:21:55To give you the ground, His body lay, and the world by darkness lay, then bursting forth, His glory is created, up on the good heroes again. Does He stands in victory, His curse has lost His grip on me, does He stand in victory, His curse has lost His grip on me. His mind, God, what the best you've learned, look right.

1:22:55Amen. Amen.

1:23:55In Christ's love. Amen. Amen. Amen. May we be a people who surrender daily to the risen Christ.

1:25:09Amen.